Top 6 Mars Discoveries

Windy Erosion

Credit: the photo is curtesy of NASA

On Earth under normal conditions, rocks which are shaped by hundreds of thousands or millions of years of wind erosion can appear unnaturally shaped or even balanced. However, on mars wind actions can create more elegant rock structures than on Earth. This is due to the fact that Mars has thin atmosphere, a weak gravity and very few other erosion processes. Mars is dominated by Aeolean processes (wind action), producing everything from the small dust devils to planet-wide dust storms. This windy activity results to vast dune fields and also snaking valleys. The windy activity can also create overhangs and tiny arches.